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This week is the hottest week of the year in Antarctica, and the entire continent is below freezing. In the map below, I have masked out all above freezing temperatures.
Meanwhile, our fake news and fake science organizations tell us Antarctica is melting down, and it is bad news.
© David Joles – Star TribuneThe morning after a large snowstorm dumped about a foot of snow on Minneapolis, good samaritan Doug Milek took over shoveling with a large fry pan for Santiago Lopez, rear right, whose vehicle was stuck in his apartment's unplowed parking lot Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Minneapolis, MN.
The 12.4 inches recorded at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday brought the seasonal total to 25.3 inches, cutting the shortfall nearly in half. Normally, 30.6 inches has accumulated by this time of year, the National Weather Service said.
That had many residents spending Tuesday digging out and waiting for plows to clear the way.
Fears of tough road conditions prompted Minneapolis, St. Paul and suburban school districts to call off classes. In Edina, officials canceled school after assessing road conditions, staff availability and a shortage of substitute teachers, according to an e-mail sent to families and students.
Flood alerts in 30 departments as rivers burst banks Flood levels in Paris are expected to match the 6.10m reached in June 2016
Seine and Rhine among rivers that have flooded, and while current drier conditions have offered respite, more rain is forecast from Thursday
The Seine in Paris has breached its banks in several areas after weeks of heavy rains in and around the French capital, reaching 4.82m above normal at 6am on Tuesday.
The river is expected to reach the 2016 high-water level of 6.10m by the end of the week.
© UnknownFlood levels in Paris are expected to match the 6.10m reached in June 2016
The Seine in Paris has breached its banks in several areas after weeks of heavy rains in and around the French capital, reaching 4.82m above normal at 6am on Tuesday.
The river is expected to reach the 2016 high-water level of 6.10m by the end of the week.
© Michael Armstrong / Homer News via APAbdulai Salam and his daughter Mina wait for the all-clear at Homer High School during a tsunami alert for Homer, Alaska at about 2:30 a.m., Jan. 23, 2018.
Volcanic eruptions in Japan, the Philippines and Bali. Massive earthquakes in Alaska and Indonesia.
The rash of natural disasters over the past two days have one common denominator: they all occurred along the so-called Ring of Fire, a sprawling horseshoe-shape geological disaster zone.
Shaken: Earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck 64 miles off the coast, at depth of 40 miles
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the quake, which hit 103 km (64 miles) northeast of the island of Honshu, at a depth of 64 km (40 miles).
Japan lies in the 'Ring of Fire', a line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.
In the past two days, several major earthquakes have been recorded on the Ring of Fire, including off the coasts of Alaska and Indonesia.
On Tuesday morning, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck some 170 miles southeast of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, US.
© unknownA map from the USGS shows where an earthquake struck near Alaska, prompting a tsunami warning for B.C.'s coast
The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake has a preliminary reading of 8.2 and struck 278 kilometres southeast of Kodiak, Alaska, at a depth of about 10 kilometres.
Environment Canada says the tsunami warning covers the Central Coast and Northeast Vancouver Island coast, including Kitimat Bella Coola and Port Hardy
The weather agency says people in coastal areas are at risk and should move to high ground now and heed further instruction from local authorities.
Scientists have once again set up a mock Arctic base camp to educate world leaders about man-made global warming at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Climate scientists hope their mock camp illustrates how global warming could impact the Arctic, but the "Gore effect" may make it harder to get the message across. Davos has seen frigid temperatures along with about six feet of snow in the last six days.
Comment: It's unsurprising that participants in the event were seemingly unaware of the irony. Global warming - buried in snow. What's wrong with this picture?
See also:
- Enough With the Global Warming Nonsense: It's Freezing Out Here!
- Heavy snow humbles the global elite at summit in Davos, Switzerland
- The big snow job: Begging for global warming as global cooling becomes obvious
- Trump trolls global warming fanatics: East coast "could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming"
- Satellite data shows no acceleration in global warming for last 23 years
© CNN
Overview
We are now experiencing warmer-than-normal weather conditions in the eastern US and there will be mild spells right into the first week of February, but the signs are increasing for a return to a cold pattern next month and it may very well last for an extended period of time. The MJO is a tropical disturbance that propagates around the global tropics and it will be transitioning into "phases" during the month of February that are conducive to colder-than-normal weather in the eastern US. In addition, stratospheric warming will unfold over the next week or so in the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere and this can set off a chain of events in the atmosphere that ultimately results in colder-than-normal weather for the eastern US. There are other signals as well that support the notion of a return to cold in the eastern US and it very well could stick around for awhile.
00Z Euro forecast of the MJO index from today (lower arrow) to February 6th (upper arrow) which is displayed on a day-to-day basis by the green line.
Comment: If this develops into a another deep freeze blast, it will be the 3rd time this winter that has happened. See here and here. It seems that we are inching ever closer to beginnings of an ice age. See also:
- Russian scientist: 'The new Little Ice Age has started'
- Last Ice Age took just SIX months to arrive
- Sunspots vanish, space weather continues
© Starry Night SutherlandA "river of hail" ploughs its way through Sutherland, Northern Cape, South Africa
As Cape Town gears up for day zero, many citizens are resigning themselves to dry dams and a complete shutdown of their taps. But, as we've seen in the Northern Cape, it may not be time to rule out a miracle just yet.
The NC territory is experiencing a drought just like its neighbour to the south. Resources have been stretched even across such a sparsely populated area. As reported by Good Things Guy, Sutherland was one town in the province that had been hit badly by the lesser-known water crisis.
© Marc NosbachFlooding in Nampula, Mozambique.
The provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado have all seen heavy rain since 14 January, 2018, triggered by a tropical depression. The city of Nampula recorded over 450 mm of rain between 15 and 19 January.
Local media, quoting sources from Mozambique's National Directorate of Water Resources (DNRH) said that, as of 19 January, the Messalo, Megaruma and Monapo rivers had all burst their banks.
Comment: A geologist from the US Geological Survey says these events are not connected - yet they all took place in rapid succession in the Ring of Fire, which is constantly active. So what he actually means is that he doesn't know if they are directly connected - although evidently they are connected by the Ring of Fire itself.
While we appreciate that he is trying to be cautious with his words, he should at least acknowledge the obvious: That the events are at least indirectly connected, and that it is possible - even likely - that there is also a direct connection given that they all happened within two days. And if so, what could that mean?
More on the Ring of Fire: